A day in the life of a day/swing trader

I frequently get asked what a typical trading day looks like as a day/swing trader. So today I decided to share a typical day in my life. 

Everyday my internal clock wakes me, no alarm clock, no worrying I am going to be late and get yelled at by the boss. I simply roll out of bed and start my day.

I begin by walking into my office and turning on my computer, typing in my password to Thinkorswim and letting everything load up.

After I take a quick glance and get an idea of where all my tickers are, I go make myself breakfast and take a shower so I feel fresh. (Just because I work from home doesn’t mean I need to be a slob about it.)

I usually spend 30min before open to mark any important support and resistance levels and get an idea of which trades I might enter during that trading day.

When 9:30 rolls around and the bell rings I let Market Makers get price moving before I do anything.

If I am holding a trade that is still working, I wait.

If I want to enter a new position, I wait.

If I am sitting on very nice profit in those first 5 minutes I’ll take some off and WAIT to see how far the rest can go.

Until the first 15m candle is fully formed at 9:45 it’s impossible to determine the trend.

Are we holding a strong uptrend? Downtrend? Do we see long tails showing rejection at the top or bottom?

Until we get this information, we can NOT assume to know what will happen.

Important levels of support and resistance are typically broken within the first one hour or last one hour of the trading day.

Yes, on occasion these levels are broken mid-day but that is much more rare and the market is often trending VERY strong when this happens giving you signs it’s ok to enter, but 90% of the time support and resistance will be broken at the beginning or end of the day.

If I don’t see my level broken with force by 10:30 I enter no new trades that day and call it a day once my swings lose momentum.

This usually means I’m done working and sitting on very nice profit by lunch.

Around 2:00-2:30 I come back to my screens and start looking at patterns that were formed during that day for the opportunities they present going forward.

I set new levels and WAIT for these patterns to give me my signals.

If I feel like the market is choppy, its expiration day, or if my levels have been crossed during the day without giving me a clear signal to enter, I will wait until the close.

Sometimes I will place a trade at 3:59 and close large portions of those trades by 9:35 the next day for AMAZING profits!

When the market closes at 4:15 (including after-hours trading on Index options) I promptly turn off my computer and walk away.

A good routine helps keep your mindset right when it’s time to trade so every day when the market closes, I exercise for at least 1hr.

This helps me focus my mind for the next day and stay healthy, these are VERY important things in trading. It is important to be able to maintain self-discipline.

After the gym, I bike my dog down Bayshore and then come home to enjoy a nice dinner with my beautiful wife.

We relax like everyone else, watching The Office re-runs on Comedy Central or some show on NFLX until Asian markets open at 9:30PM. About that time I usually take a look at some charts for 30min to an hour and make sure I’m ready for the next trading day.

Around midnight each night, I get tired and go to bed.

The next day I wake up, collect my money, find trades OR sit out and watch setups form, entering new swings at end of day. And… Repeat.

Trading doesn’t have to be and isn’t supposed to be this heart-pumping, off to the races event every time the market opens.

The market is designed to cause FOMO and this encourages traders to make bad trades instead of being patient and waiting for the good opportunities to present themselves.

I designed my trading system to be very high probability, carrying as little stress as possible by only trading 5-star setups when market makers are trading.

You may have noticed my system always tells you where price is going and when to get in but there can be a lot of waiting in between getting signals.

90% of trading is waiting, only about 10% is the buying/selling.

You wait for the setup to form and come to you. Once you enter you have to wait for the setup to play out.

Remember, “The stock market is a device for transferring wealth from the impatient to the patient” – Warren Buffet.

This is why it’s so important to only trade when you have clear signals for entry. I don't let things like FOMO affect my mindset, some trades won't be for you and that's ok.

When you learn to trade this way and only make trade decisions according to your system rather than your emotions you will be exponentially closer to becoming a Professional Trader and having a schedule as peaceful as mine.